Monday, August 16, 2010

Madalyn

In Memory of Madalyn
August 1995 - August 2010

Last Wednesday night, we let Madalyn outside to bask in the evening sun, just like most every evening.  At 1:30 AM, we awoke to the sound of a cat fight and we knew instantly that we had forgotten to let Madalyn back in the house.  We rushed down the stairs and by the time we got outside, there was no sign of Madalyn or anything else.  We searched high and low and when we went back to check the porch we noticed evidence of a cat fight, tufts of fur.  It appeared that Madalyn was the worse for wear but it was apparent that she had a brawl with a black & white neighborhood stray.  We took a seat to ponder where she might be and we heard an owl nearby who's "who" faded off into the distance as it flew away.  As a fifteen year old house cat, we were sure her wild outdoors defense tactics were quite rusty.  We feared the worst that she was in a cat fight and met the end of her days due to a bird of prey.  We were devastated that due to our neglect, Madalyn had passed.  Neither Keith nor I spoke of what the worst possible case of her fate may be.  At that time, we couldn't do much more.
For several days we held out hope that she was in hiding and would come home.  By Friday afternoon it had been nearly 48 hours and we knew that we would never see her again.
Madalyn was a wonderful cat who was caring of her family and patient with Oliver.  She received countless praises as to how soft and pretty she was.  She has traveled the US and lived in more states than many including Washington, Nevada and Colorado.  She will be deeply missed.

This would have been the post at 5:45 PM on Friday.

Now, for the rest of the story...

On Thursday morning, there was no sign of Madalyn so we left food and water on the porch in hopes that she was in hiding and might come home.  Madalyn is the worlds messiest eater so we knew we would see food crumbs everywhere if she had been there.  I also sent an email to the neighbors to ask them to watch for her.
Thursday evening, there was still no sign of Madalyn and the neighborhood kids were on a search party.  We were beginning to give up hope that she had made it.
Friday morning and evening there were still no signs of Madalyn.  Again, we didn't speak of what the outcome was, but each knew that if she didn't make it back by now, she was gone.  We were all very upset and I was an emotional wreck.  Oliver asked about her regularly in which we responded that she was on vacation since we didn't really know.  Friday evening at 5:45, we were heading out for dinner and Keith spotted two kernels of cat food outside of her dish on the porch.  He thought to himself how it seemed weird, almost like Madalyn was back.  Seconds later, he saw her trotting toward the door from under the patio table.  As I came down the stairs I saw her sitting on the kitchen floor.  It seemed absolutely bazaar.  She was back, safe and sound and without a single wound.  She was extremely dirty, tired, sore, thirsty and hungry.  We cleaned her up, avoiding her stomach since that is where she was the most sore.  Gave her lots of food, water, love and space to rest.  She struggled walking up the stairs on Friday but by Sunday she was running up them like she used to and seems to be good as new.
We are SO happy that Madalyn is back and she was able to cash in one of her nine lives to stick around a little longer.  We hope she lives a long and healthy life and both Oliver and the new baby grow up knowing her as part of our family.

1 comment:

Wanda said...

Oh my gosh! I thought she was really gone when I read this and I was in tears. I can't believe that it all turned out okay, YAY Madalyn! She couldn't miss the new baby! I am so happy to hear she is okay.

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